But hold on there, Skippy—some of us use those cans in our prosumer studios, in recording sessions, and even in barn-burning late-night critical listening sessions where we employ ancillary equipment that would beggar your jaded high-end sensibilities. We're not talking about the three-buck, upchuck disposable 'phones your friendly flight attendant flogs…
search
Oh mama, was I ever excited when I heard rumors of the existence of AKG's K 701! If you're among the audiophiles who sneer at those of us who like headphones, you're probably rolling your eyes and thinking I must lack a rich inner life.
I'd been given a copy of Geoff Emerick's Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles, so it seemed only natural to pull out copies of the Beatles recordings I was reading about, starting with Revolver (CD, Capitol 025764), the first album on which Emerick sat in the balance engineer's chair. Whoa! I came to about 40 minutes later, when the book fell off my lap. The 701s are not a good choice for listening and reading—music sounds too good to be relegated to the background.
The things I do for this magazine.
I'd intended to follow the text and home in on…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Open-back, circumaural, dynamic headphones with neodymium magnet system. Frequency range: 10Hz–39.8kHz. Impedance at 1kHz: 62 ohms. Sensitivity: 105dB/V. Maximum input power: 200mW. Acoustic seal: open. Ear coupler: full size. Driver: dynamic. Coupler: large. Cable: 99.99% OFC, "balanced" (separate ground for each channel). Cord: 10', straight, left side. Connector: ¼".
Weight: 8.3oz (235gm), not including cable.
Serial Number Of Unit Reviewed: 1935.
Price: $450. Approximate number of dealers: 1100.
Manufacturer: AKG Acoustics GmbH,…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Ayre C5-xe universal player; Musical Fidelity X-RayV3, Quad CDP-2 CD players.
Headphone Amplifiers: HeadRoom Micro DeskTop & DeskTop Max, Channel Islands VHP-1, Ray Samuels Audio SR-71 & Hornet, Musical Fidelity X-CansV3.
Preamplifier: Conrad-Johnson CT5.
Cables: Interconnect: Audience Au24, Shunyata Research Aries, Stereovox Colibri.
Accessories: Furutech TP-80 and Audience adeptResponse power conditioners, Shunyata Research Hydra power-distribution system; OSAR Selway/Magruder equipment racks; Ayre Myrtle Wood Blocks…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
It is difficult to make a meaningful measurement of a headphone's frequency response, not least because a flat response is not actually what is required. However, I did measure how the K 701's impedance changes with frequency (fig.1), as that gives an indication of how hard the headphones will be for the amplifier to drive. The AKG's impedance ranges between 60 and 65 ohms across most of the audioband, with a low electrical phase angle. The angle starts to increase above the low treble, but so does the impedance, due to the voice-coil inductance. This increase…
Well, I finally got a chance to try out these excellent 'phones, and the virtues that have made Sam Tellig and Wes Phillips confirmed fans were immediately apparent. Driven by Grace Design's m902 DAC-linestage-headphone amplifier, the 701s exhibited clarity and detail in abundance, as well as bass that was powerful and well defined. Mechanical noises and stray buzzes and rattles deep within my organ recording Pipes Rhode Island (RIAGO CD 101) were annoyingly apparent, while the majesty of Master Tallis's Testament was gratifyingly present.
The 701s' appearance and build quality are first-…
More than any other component, it is the loudspeaker that seems to invite the most audacious—some would say flat-out lunatic—efforts at design. There have been attempts at full-range plasma speakers, speakers one had to hook up to tanks of pressurized gas, speakers with drivers attached to what looked like copper salad bowls (the infamous Tri-Torr of the early 1990s).
One look at the Legacy Audio Whisper with its grille off and it's easy to see that Legacy's Bill Dudleston is one of the more seriously experimental designers of loudspeakers. Thankfully, his philosophy is based in well-…
One could reasonably expect that four 15" woofers per side will move a lot of air, and the Whisper's are capable of doing so. But the system's design produces a very different sort of bass. When dialed in correctly, which in my room meant setting the Step One's single control somewhere between 12:00 and 1:30, depending on the type of music—a bit higher for big rock, lower for acoustic music—the Whisper produced bass that had the sheer speed and taut definition that characterize the best panel speakers. (I've had plenty of time to assess the nature of planar bass: I've owned Magnepans and…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Four-way, bi-ampable, floorstanding loudspeaker with ten drive-units and external bass processor. Drive-units: 4" ribbon tweeter, 1.25" fabric-dome midrange, four 7" double-layered Kevlar Hexacone midrange units, four 15" carbon-fiber/pulp composite-cone woofers. Crossover frequencies: 300Hz, 3kHz, 10kHz. Low-frequency alignment: sixth-order differential. Frequency response: 22Hz–30kHz, ±2dB. Sensitivity: 95dB/2.83V/m. Impedance: 4 ohms. Recommended amplification: 10–600W.
Dimensions: 63" (1615mm) H by 17" (435mm) W by 13" (333mm) D. Base: 24" (…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Source: SOTA Cosmos Series III turntable, Graham 2.2 tonearm, Dynavector XV-1S cartridge.
Digital Sources: Classé Omega SACD/CD player, Simaudio Moon Orbiter universal player, Plinius CD-101 CD player.
Preamplification: Manley Labs Steelhead phono stage; VTL TL-7.5 Reference, Audio Research Reference 3 line stages.
Power Amplifiers: Lamm Industries M1.2 Reference, Chord SP14000 monoblocks; Plinius SA-Reference.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties MAXX 2.
Cables: Phono: Hovland Music Groove 2. Interconnect: Cardas Golden Reference,…